


The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

by stellatundra



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Characters Writing Fanfiction, Crack, Fanfiction, Gen, International Fanworks Day 2016, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 04:11:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5953156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellatundra/pseuds/stellatundra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Penelope writes fanfiction about Cath and Levi, in which Cath writes fanfiction about Simon and Baz. Confused? So is Agatha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, for this to make any sense, you have to assume that Cath doesn't already write Simon/Baz fanfiction in the source material Penny and Agatha are familiar with. Just for fun!

BAZ

“The girls are up to something,” Snow complains. I raise an eyebrow at him which I hope adequately conveys how much I don’t care, but evidently this is insufficient, because he continues, “They’re always huddled together, writing something, but they won’t tell me what it is. They keep going on about some bloke called Levi but I don’t even know who he is. Do you?”

“No,” I say flatly, because it’s not like I can just refuse to answer a direct question, but I don’t want to encourage him either. 

 

PENELOPE

“So,” I say, “I’m thinking about setting the story here, at Watford. What if Cath and Levi were Watford students?”

“But they’re not mages,” Agatha protests. Sometimes I think she hasn’t quite got the hang of all the _possibilities_ of fanfiction. Even if she does write some lovely fluffy Cath/Levi curtain fic. 

“Agatha, they’re not anything. They’re pretend. So I can pretend they’re mages. It’s an AU.”

“I do know what an AU is,” she sniffs. “I just don’t quite see the point. If they were just like us it wouldn’t be as interesting. They wouldn’t be them. I like reading about their Normal world and their jobs in Starbucks. It’s so different from our lives. It’s escapism.”

Sometimes I think Agatha spends too much time reading about Normals. Sometimes I think she wishes she were one herself. 

 

AGATHA

“Okay, new idea,” Penelope says, accosting me in the library after dinner. “What if Cath wrote fanfiction instead of original stories?”

“OK,” I nod. “That could work. What would she write fanfiction about?”

Penelope grins like she’s had the best idea ever. 

“Us.”

“What?”

“I mean, not us specifically, but about Watford and magic and everything. Like, in her world, none of this would be real. But imagine someone wrote a story about the world of mages and Cath wrote fanfiction about it!”

My head is starting to hurt.

“This might be a bit meta for me, Penny,” I say. “Besides, what sort of fanfiction would she write?”

“Terribly mushy slash about stubborn boys who think they hate each other but keep saving each other’s lives anyway, until they have no choice to admit they’re in love,” she says, which seems oddly specific. 

But then I see that Simon and Baz have walked in, arguing about something and I think I know where she’s going with this.

“I don’t know, does that count as RPF?”

“What if I change the names,” she offers.

“Alright, I’ll beta it for you,” I say. 

 

SIMON

Penny slipped up leaving her laptop open. Finally, I’m going to see what it is she and Agatha keep scribbling...

 

_Fanfixxx.net_  
New work posted by the_pen_is_mightier_than_the_sword  
Title: Fangirl  
Words: 5,000  
Rating: M  
Summary: Cath writes slash. About wizards. Levi does not exactly disapprove.  
Tags: reading aloud, fanfiction, fandom-freeform, het, slash, gay wizards, kissing, i don’t even know  
A/N: Thanks to my beta california_dreaming. And to the friends who inspired this. 

 

...I don’t get it. 

Seriously, I don’t. 

This is a story about a girl called Cath who writes stories about gay wizards and reads them aloud to some bloke called Levi who she fancies. 

The thing is, there’s something awfully familiar about the wizard characters she writes about. One of them reminds me an awful lot of Baz. His eyes are described as being like grey storm clouds, which is how I always think of Baz’s. I’m not sure about the other one, he’s supposedly the Chosen One, but he’s almost implausibly oblivious to everything, including his roommate’s feelings for him.

I just don’t...

Oh.

I see.

But Baz doesn’t...

And we’ve certainly never...

Oh _Crowley!_

“PENELOPE!”

 

BAZ

Snow starts when I get in from football, staring at me wide-eyed with guiltily flushed cheeks. He seems to have Bunce’s laptop on his lap. Maybe’s he’s discovered some kinky secret of hers. I decide I’d really rather not know and grab my towel from the back of my chair.

Snow clears his throat. He’s closed the lid of the laptop and is standing close behind me.

“Um, Baz...”

Is it my imagination, or is he staring at my lips?

 

PENELOPE

_11 users and 15 guests left kudos on Fangirl._  
You have one new comment from ‘son_of_a_pitch’  
Click here to read all comments 

 

I roll my eyes at the user name. Baz is nowhere near as subtle as he thinks he is. Still, unless Baz also secretly reads Cath/Levi fic, then Simon must have taken the bait. 

“What was the name of that fic where Cath reads audiobooks, and Levi recognises her from the sound of her voice?” I ask Agatha, while I wait for the page to load. The trouble with not being strictly allowed phones in school is you can’t get decent wi-fi. 

“Can’t remember. I think I have it bookmarked though, hang --”

Agatha freezes, goggling at something or someone behind me, hands clasping her morning cup of tea.

“Are they _holding hands_?” she all but squeaks.

I glance over my shoulder and grin.


End file.
